Blood Culture, PICU — Specific Guidance for Patients with or without Central Venous Lines and Fever — Clinical Pathway: ICU

Blood Culture in Patients with Fever (Non-Oncology/Non-Neutropenic) Clinical Pathway — PICU

Specific Guidance for Patients with or without Central Venous Lines and Fever

The presence of a central venous catheter (CVC) increases a patient’s risk for bacteremia as the CVC can become colonized with bacteria which can then travel to the patient’s blood, resulting in bacteremia. However, like patients without central lines, patients with CVCs can also have fevers due to non-bacterial infections, bacterial infections unrelated to the CVC, and non-infectious etiologies.

If the patient with a CVC is clinically unchanged without signs of sepsis (e.g., normal/baseline vital signs except tachycardia while febrile; normal/baseline perfusion; and normal/baseline mental status), only obtain blood culture if

  • New fever with no known source
  • OR
  • Persistent fever and no blood culture obtained in the last 48 hours